Domain of Interest

Carbon dioxide (CO2) generates the largest share of greenhouse emissions in the world. CO2 is released during industrial processes and fossil fuel combustions to retrieve energy, or from direct human-induced impacts on forestry and other land use. Emissions have been increasing in the atmosphere at an alarming rate, impacting our environments and overall quality of life. And recent studies have revealed that the happiest countries are those prioritizing well-being and environmental sustainability. To explore this finding, our group is interested in understanding the association between CO2 emissions per capita and happiness scores by country. We are using a data sets from The World Happiness Report and CO2 and Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Our World Data.

Summary Information

The joined data set that we are using for this project consists of 2018 happiness values on a scale of 1-10 from the World Happiness Report and CO2 emissions from 2018 measured in millions of metric tons from 150 countries worldwide. In the study, happiness scores range from Burundi’s 2.905 to Finland’s 7.632. On the other hand, there is an even larger range of CO2 emissions as the lowest country, the Central African Republic, only produces 0.304 million tonnes while China produces the most with 1.006468610^{4} million tonnes, meaning China produces 3.31075210^{4} times more. However, this comparison does not factor in how many more people China has than low emission countries like the Central African Republic which is why our group’s focus is on the CO2 emissions per capita data. The range for this is much smaller, from Somalia’s 4.65751610^{-8} million tonnes per capita to Qatar’s 3.796657110^{-5} million tonnes per capita, for a difference of only 815.1678037 times more.

CO2 per Capita vs Happiness Table

Rounded Happiness Score Mean CO2 per Capita Minimum CO2 per Capita Maximum CO2 per Capita
3 4.0e-07 0.0e+00 1.70e-06
4 1.1e-06 1.0e-07 5.30e-06
5 3.5e-06 0.0e+00 8.90e-06
6 7.0e-06 9.0e-07 3.80e-05
7 9.7e-06 1.6e-06 2.13e-05
8 7.6e-06 6.1e-06 8.50e-06

What the chart attempts to seeks to express:

This table narrows down the comparison between a country’s happiness score and their CO2 emissions. I have combined countries into groups, bases on their happiness score rounded to the closest whole number. I organized this chart in this way to show the correlation between happiness and CO2 emissions.

What information this table reveals:

In the table above you will see that mean CO2 emissions per capita increases as the happiness score increases, but this excludes the highest (whole number) happiness score of 8. The average CO2 emissions per capita for countries in the group with a score of 8 actually decreases. This could suggest that CO2 emissions increase happiness only to a certain point. In the table we also see that the country with the lowest CO2 emissions per capita ranked fairly high in the happiness score with a high score of 5. The country with the highest CO2 emissions per capita was not far off with a score of 4. This suggests that there are other factors to consider in comparing CO2 emissions to happiness then what is shown in this table.

Life Expectancy Among the Countries with the Lowest CO2 Emissions

What the chart attempts to express:

Among the 6 countries with the lowest CO2 emissions, how are the life expectancies proportioned to each other in 2018? Among these countries, are there vast differences in life expectancy or are the life expectancies similar?

Why we selected chart type and graphical encoding:

We used a pie chart to effectively display healthy life expectancy proportionally among the select small group of countries with lowest CO2 emissions. The pie chart allows the viewer to see how these country’s life expectancies are proportional to each other.

What information the chart reveals:

The pie chart suggests that there are significant differences in life expectancy among the the 6 countries with the lowest CO2 emissions per capita. For example, Kosovo’s life expectancy alone is only slighly less than the life expetancies of the 5 other countries combined. Thus, life expectancy varies greatly among the countries with the lowest CO2 per capita emissions and can not be considered similar.

Happiness Scores for the Lowest CO2 Per Capita Countries Bar Chart

This chart displays the happiness score for each of the five countries with the lowest CO2 per capita.

What the chart attempts to seeks to express:

What are the happiness scores of the 5 countries with the lowest CO2 per capita in 2018?

Why we selected chart type and graphical encoding:

We chose a bar chart to answer this question because bar charts easily allow viewers to see the happiness score of each of the 5 countries and how the happiness score of these countries compare to the others selected. The chart is interactive so the score can be viewed when a bar is selected.

What information this chart reveals:

The happiness scores for the 5 countries with the lowest CO2 per Capita are 2.9 (Burundi), 3 (Central African Republic), 4.3 (Chad), 3.6 (Malawi), and 5 (Somalia). This is interesting because the happiness scores of these countries are in the bottom and middle of the range of happiness scores, thus the top five lowest CO2 per capita countries are not countries with the highest happiness scores.

CO2 Per Capita and Happiness Score Scatter Plot

This scatter plot displays the relationship between CO2 per capita and happiness scores for each country. Each dot on the plot represents the CO2 per capita and happiness score for a specific country. The yellow line is a smoothing line based on the plot data.

What the chart attempts to seeks to express:

What relationship does the happiness score and CO2 per capita by country in 2018 have? Are countries with higher CO2 per capita happier or less happy?

Why we selected chart type and graphical encoding:

We chose a scatter plot because scatter plots display the relation between 2 variables. The individual points on the scatter plot allow the viewer to see the happiness score and CO2 per capita for each country. The smoothing line is also important for answering our question because it depicts the overall scatter plot trend based on the individual points so that the relation between these variables is clearly depicted. The scatter plot is interactive so the happiness score and CO2 per capita can be viewed when a point is selected.

What information the chart reveals:

The scatter plot suggests a positive relationship between CO2 per capita and happiness score by country. Thus, in general, countries with higher happiness scores also have higher co2 per capita emissions.